When Two Worlds Collide
by Lavender.Eliza
Summary: DRAMIONE: This is eighth, ninth and tenth year at Hogwarts which students can chose whether they take or not.
1. Prologue

**CONTEXT:** This is eighth, ninth and tenth year at Hogwarts which students can chose whether they take or not. The original storyline is pretty much identical but many characters didn't die. You'll find them as you read.

 **DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Harry Potter.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE** : I understand that the time of my story is 1998-2002 and things like iPods and earbuds weren't around and neither were many of the songs but it just felt right putting them in. The song I mentioned in the prologue ('When the War is Over') is by Grayson Mathews.

 **PROLOGUE:**

Hermione looked around the Great Hall knowing that this was the end. The war was over. She was so relieved, but she was also scared. What came next? For now Hermione didn't mind, she just didn't want to be around others. She just wanted it to be with herself. Free to be herself. As Luna pointed out the window claiming to have seen something weird and wacky, Hermione slipped out the door of the Great Hall and headed up to the Gryffindor Common room. When she reached the common room, she went into what would have been her dormitory for the year if she'd been at Hogwarts and not camping all over the country searching for horcruxes. She opened the drawer in the bedside table and pulled up a piece of wood. Underneath it was a small, silver, rectangular item. Hermione's iPod. She grabbed it and the earbuds that were sitting next to it and left the common room. She headed down the stairs and went into a classroom that had been almost unscathed due to its position in the middle of the castle and hidden by a tapestry where no-one else could find it. She cleared away as much of the small rubble she could, pulled out her iPod, placed it on a desk and pointed her wand at it.  
"Musia exatria" she muttered.

Hermione had learnt the 'Musia exatria' charm from Professor Lupin which meant her pieces of muggle technology would work within Hogwarts. She plugged in her earbuds and started to play music. After she'd neatly pushed back all the desks and chairs Hermione had room to dance. She quickly stretched and when the next song came on she embraced the lyrics and danced. She didn't dance to her full capability in the first song but then the song changed. 'When the War is Over' started playing and Hermione just let her movements be carried away in the music. When the song ended she could hear soft clapping from inside the classroom. Someone had seen her. She stopped the next song from playing, pulled her earbuds out of her ears, tucked them in her pocket, grabbed her wand and turned around. When she saw who it was her breathe caught, her wand still outstretched in her arm.  
"Good dancing Granger. What was the song?" Draco Malfoy said, his voice missing the normal snark.  
"Is that meant to be sarcastic? Or don't you care about blood purity anymore? Don't you think it's a crime to speak to me now?" Hermione asked rudely. She couldn't be too sure what he was here for. In the six years that Hermione had been at Hogwarts, Draco had teased and tormented her only because of her ancestry.  
"I was being honest and asking a pure question. Honesty can get you a far way in this place, Granger. In times like these enemies aren't necessary. We're all hurting in one way or another. I was going to say something else but it doesn't seem like being here is worth my time." Malfoy snapped, stalking from the room.  
"I'm sorry Malfoy." Hermione whispered softly. "I honestly am." But it was too late. He was gone.


	2. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

 **So Ron might be a bit out of character for some of you. I'm not sure that's just what I saw fit. Enjoy! x**

 **CHAPTER ONE:  
** As steam poured out of the Hogwarts Express Hermione quickly boarded. She was so glad that Professor McGonagall was offering for students to complete three extra years after the end of the Second Wizarding War. She knew that she wouldn't let these three years go to waste. Hermione found a lonesome compartment and sat down. Pulling out her iPod she completed the Musia Exatria charm and put in her earbuds. For once, Hermione might be able to have a quiet trip to Hogwarts. After hearing the news that neither Harry or Ron were coming to do the extra three years she knew that not only would she have peace and quiet where she could study for herself and not the boys, she also knew that she would have to stand for herself. Even though she was a member of the Golden Trio many people still didn't like her due to her recent break-up with Ron. The two of them had a spur of the moment incident during the war where it was all or nothing. She hadn't been in control due to sleep deprivation, stress and the fact that they could have died at any given moment. After the kiss, they had gone out for a month or two but Hermione began to see that being with Ron wasn't something she could do forever. Hermione was too smart and still wanted to fight for what was she believed was right but Ron had just wanted to play quidditch and bask in the glory of being a member of the Golden Trio for a while. He didn't want to take his NEWT'S or go back to Hogwarts to see the castle and all their friends again. Hermione knew that as much as the public had agreed with it, her and Ron weren't meant to be together.

As she heard voices from outside her compartment and on the platform, Hermione snapped back into reality and knew she had escaped the crowds. For this she was glad. Hermione had always been partially claustrophobic and absolutely hated large crowds. Suddenly she saw something at the doorway to her compartment. Draco Malfoy.  
"Morning Granger. You're here early, any particular reason?" Malfoy asked, his voice almost monotone.  
"I'm claustrophobic." She murmured quietly, taking out one of her earbuds.  
"Pardon?" Malfoy said. He obviously hadn't heard her. Hermione sighed, not really wanting the first person she told about being claustrophobic to be Malfoy.  
"Claustrophobia. What about you?" She said. "I want to be alone and most people still either detest me or feel uncomfortable in my presence.." Malfoy answered. "Anyway I should probably go before Potter or Weasley fires some random hex at me."  
"They're not coming." Hermione replied. "They didn't want to do the extra three years."  
"Ahh ok. How lovely, our year will finally have a peaceful year with no drama." Malfoy said jokingly.  
"Yeah, that would be a first." Hermione replied smiling.  
"Definitely." Malfoy responded. He glanced at Hermione's iPod. "I see you're listening to music and as I know music is quite an enjoyable thing to be lost in, much different to a maze, especially if you're claustrophobic, so I'll let you get lost in your music. Enjoy the trip Granger. I'll see you around." He walked away, closing the compartment door as he went. Hermione was taken aback. Not only had she just experienced a normal conversation with Draco Malfoy but he had known she was listening to music from seeing her iPod. iPods were muggle technology and Draco was a pure-blood wizard with pretty high ideas about blood purity. Not only that but he remembered how she was claustrophobic from earlier in the conversation and that at the third task of the Triwizard Tournament she had mentioned how much she'd hate going into the maze the champions had to enter to Ron, which Malfoy had overheard. He remembered that even though it was from 4 years ago.

As Hermione put her second earbud in after thinking about her previous conversation with Malfoy and looking for hidden details, the Hogwarts Express started moving. It picked up more and more speed and Hermione did exactly what Malfoy had said, she let herself get lost in her music. Music had been Hermione's escape for a while now. Whenever she was angry, sad, lonely or anything else she's listen to music. On her 12th birthday Hermione's parent had sent her an iPod filled with all her favourite music and a set of earbuds. Obviously Mr. and Mrs. Granger didn't know that muggle technology didn't work too close to Hogwarts due to the amount of magic in the air. But near the end of her third year Professor Lupin explained to her the theory and taught her the Musia Exatria Charm just like he had taught Harry the Patronus Charm. The Musia Exatria Charm meant that her muggle technology would work within the walls of Hogwarts. From then on she found her work to be easier and less stressful. Music was everything to Hermione and she couldn't imagine living without it.

For the rest of the journey Hermione was left with only herself for company. When she left the train and headed to the carriages to take her from the station at Hogsmeade to the Hogwarts Castle she found that the only carriage left was one with Draco Malfoy and Ernie MacMillian.  
"Guess we're stuck with them aren't we?" Said a familiar voice behind her. Hermione jumped and turned around with her wand outstretched. When she saw it was Ginny Weasley she lowered it.  
"Sorry Ginny. It's just a natural instinct now. But yeah you're right. Two pompous brats - one a Slytherin the other a Hufflepuff." She said.  
"I'll agree with you there. Ernie is definitely the worst Hufflepuff by far and I'm not even in his year level. Did you know he was Head Boy last year?" Ginny replied, smiling .  
"Was he? That must have been horrible!" Hermione exclaimed. "Anyway, how are you? I haven't seen you in forever!" She continued as the girls headed towards the last carriage.  
"I'm alright, I think the war was hard for us all with what did happen but also what could have been." The redhead replied getting onto the carriage.  
"Agreed." Hermione said following her on. She went to say something else but Ernie cut her off.  
"Hello Hermione, hello Ginerva." He said brightly.  
"Don't call me Ginerva." Ginny said angrily.  
"Oh, terribly sorry. It shan't happen again." Ernie said pompously. Draco rolled his eyes and muttered 'Mufflito' almost silently.  
"Thank Merlin you arrived Granger. He's unbearable now. He thinks that because he has such an 'advanced and extensive vocabulary, sorry smart and large range of words to use' and that he was head boy last year, he runs the world." He said.  
"I do know what 'advanced', 'extensive' and 'vocabulary' mean Malfoy." Hermione replied.  
"I know you do, so do I. I was just directly quoting him, the pompous brat. If I were one to judge I'd say he's worse than two Lockhart's combined." Malfoy explained, almost laughing.  
"Two Lockhart's? Gosh, is he really that bad?" Hermione replied laughing.  
"Definitely. It's more like three Lockhart's.' Malfoy said, smiling. He removed the Mufflito charm as Ginny looked at them weirdly. The four of them sat in silence for the remainder of the journey to the castle.

When they reached the castle, Professor McGonagall greeted all the returning students that were entering the eighth year. Overall there were 20 students returning for the upcoming three years, quite a few who Hermione didn't recognise. She saw Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil from Gryffindor. Padma Patil, Michael Corner, and four others were from Ravenclaw. Ernie MacMillian and Hannah Abbott and another from Hufflepuff and Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson and one more from Slytherin.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall started. "There has been extensive work done to the castle since you were last here assuming you all participated in the 'Battle of Hogwarts' earlier this year. You have returned to Hogwarts to complete there more years on magical theory alike your previous years. The difference between the previous seven years to your upcoming three are you will have job experiences and real-life experience and applications. For three months in your ninth year and three months in your tenth year you will be spending time living in a muggle community alongside a partner of the opposite gender chosen by a special system. You will not be living in your house dormitories but one shared by all of you with different facilities available for you. This can be found on the fifth floor and entered by a portrait of Madame Musalie. The password is 'pianissimo'. In this vicinity there is a common room and then each of you has a private bedroom and bathroom allocated. Inside for the time being is a bed and a book of designs for things you may like in your room such as desks, wardrobes and more. Please for the remainder of the day make yourself at home and choose your room design. You are expected with the rest of the school in the Great Hall at 7:30pm. Thank-you."

As Professor McGonagall finished all the students murmured their thanks and headed up towards the fifth floor. When they all reached the designated floor, people split into groups in an attempt to find the portrait of Madame Musalie. Hermione racked her memory having read that name someone and then she remembered, Madame Musalie was the creator of the Musia Exatria Charm hence why the password was to do with music. Now she knew exactly where to go due to having passed the portrait on nearly a day to day basis when she was previously at Hogwarts. Hermione headed left then right then left again and before she knew it she was standing in a corridor between a classroom door which was once hidden behind a tapestry and a portrait. She smiled remembering how many hours she had spent in the classroom dancing and then turned to the portrait.  
"Pianissimo." She said.  
"Hello there miss. I shall let you enter in a moment as soon as I've gotten your name. What might that be?" Madame Musalie questioned.  
"Hermione Granger." Hermione responded kindly.  
"Thank-you miss." Madame Musalie said swinging open to let Hermione through. She entered the room and couldn't believe it. Someone had beaten her there.

"Hello again Granger." Said Malfoy. Hermione was astounded.  
"How did you find the portrait before me?" She questioned urgently.  
"You're not the only one who used the classroom on the other side of the hall occasionally. How else do you think I found you after the Battle?" He answered. Suddenly the portrait door opened again and Blaise Zabini walked in alongside Pansy Parkinson. Immediately Draco's content face and tone of voice changed to a smirk with a sneer.  
"Why are you so surprised I beat you here Granger? Wizards like me known everything about everything which means we don't need to spend hours reading about things to know where a simple portrait is." Pansy and Blaise looked at each other and rolled their eyes.  
"But…" Hermione stuttered.  
"Oh no, the mudblood is lost for words, who had the pleasure of cutting that into your arm Granger?" Malfoy said motioning to Hermione's left wrist.  
"Your deranged aunt." Hermione hissed. "I believe you had the so-called pleasure of watching it occur." For a split-second Draco's face flashed with fear, sadness and an apology almost left his lips. Before Blaise or Pansy caught him, his expression returned to a snark.  
"Hey Draco." Pansy said, trying to avert topic. "Seen Astoria Greengrass at all?"  
"No, I've never heard of her." Draco responded.  
"You've never heard of Astoria Greengrass? The girl you're engaged? Have you even met her?" Pansy shrieked.  
"Engaged? Last time I checked there was no engagement ring on my finger Pansy." Draco said calmly.  
"But the Daily Prophet has been saying you're engaged to her." Pansy said, she was obviously stressing.  
"Pans, you know how the Prophet loves to make things up." Blaise Zabini said wrapping his arms around her and kissing her forehead. Immediately Pansy started to relax. That was something new to Hermione. Being herself she hadn't normally known about much gossip due to her relentless hours studying but usually having Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown in her dorm helped her to hear all the latest gossip. From what she knew Pansy had been going out with Draco since third year and Draco had broken up with her halfway through the sixth year so her could concentrate on his studies and tasks ahead more. From the way Blaise and Pansy were acting now Hermione could only assume they were dating. She made a mental note to ask Lavender and Parvati later.

"Who was writing the articles Pansy?" Draco asked. "Rita Skeeter." Pansy replied immediately. Hermione coughed in the attempts to hide laughter. Blaise picked it up.  
"You find that funny why?" He asked looking directly at Hermione. Hermione considered her options. She could answer the question and act civil toward the three of them or she could stalk off and risk being tormented once more. She chose the former option.  
"Well from my experiences Rita Skeeter only writes a bunch of rubbish." She answered almost kindly.  
"And your proof Granger?" Draco snarled. Hermione took a deep breath and went to answer but before she could Blaise spoke,  
"Hey mate, there's no need to be so rough and rude with Granger. She is human even if her parents are muggles."  
"But she's Granger." Malfoy whined.  
"And?" Pansy said rolling her eyes, obviously agreeing with Blaise. This was also new to Hermione. She knew the war had changed many people but having Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini standing up for her in front of Draco, that was unheard of.  
"We've hated her for seven years. And she's a part of the 'Golden Trio'." Draco said using quotation marks in the air.  
"Yeah, and we're the Slytherin version of the Golden Trio. Are you really that unobservant. Literally every house their trio. It just happens to be that everyone knows of the Gryffindor one because they defeated the Dark Lord and one of the members is Harry flipping Potter." Blaise argued back.  
"Fine." Malfoy said begrudgingly. Pansy smiled.  
"So what were you going to say about Rita Skeeter?" She asked Hermione.

"Oh, it's just that she writes anything but the truth, especially when it comes to public romances." Hermione said, remembering the most recent article Rita Skeeter had written about her. The basis of it was that Ron had broken up with her because she was still in love with Viktor Krum when in reality her and Viktor had only ever gone to the Yule Ball together.  
"She does doesn't she. I read that awful article about you and Ronald a while back. Was any of that true?" Pansy asked sincerely.  
"None of it except the fact we broke up." Hermione answered truthfully. "I never actually dated Viktor Krum. The Yule Ball was a one off situation."  
"May I ask why you did split then. You two were seen as the perfect couple until then." Blaise asked. "  
It was basically just that we were too different from one another. I wanted to continue studying and he wanted to bask in glory for the rest of his life whilst perhaps playing a bit of quidditch." Hermione said.  
"Well that's a mile off what Rita Skeeter wrote." Pansy exclaimed.  
"Exactly. That's why I'm not surprised that she's made up this story about Malfoy being engaged to Astoria. It's not an irregular occurrence." Hermione said. Suddenly there was lots of giggling coming from outside the portrait. It swung open and two girls walked in. It was Lavender and Parvati.  
"Excuse me for a second." Hermione sighed. "I have to talk to them about a few things." She left the conversation and walked over to the two girls.  
"Hermione!" They exclaimed embracing her in a tight hug. "We have so much to tell you. Come on!" They shrieked pulling Hermione towards one of the girls' rooms. Hermione let them pull her away and saw the three Slytherins all cringe together.

"How are you Hermione?" Parvati asked. "We haven't seen you since the battle."  
"I'm ok, what about you two?" Hermione asked.  
"Alright, I didn't get too injured in the battle unlike Lav and Padma." Parvati said. "Luckily Professor Trelawney and I were able to fix Padma's injuries before she died. Really I just think we're all traumatised and glad it's all over."  
"Yeah, you're right. I've actually been able to sleep for once without fear of being attacked. What about you Lavender?" Hermione questioned.  
"Thanks to you and Madam Pomfrey I'm alive. Madam Pomfrey said that if you hadn't hit Greyback off me I would have died. After you had ran away Madam Pomfrey came and immediately took me to the room of requirement where she fixed as many of my injuries as she could. She then apparated to St Mungo's to get some healers in. Thankfully I'm here now and it's really due to you so thank-you Hermione." Lavender said.  
"You're welcome. I couldn't imagine being at school without you two." Hermione said.  
"Anyway, we have so much to tell you! You missed out on so much in our last year. You wouldn't believe what happened in the mix of it all." Parvati said.  
"Merlin knows I need a good catch-up on the gossip. Start from the beginning of the year." Hermione said, sitting down.

"Well the only real gossip at the start of the year was the fact that you, Harry and Ron were missing and that Harry had broken up with Ginny so she wouldn't be hunted for by Death Eaters and that they were planning on getting back together once Harry had defeated You-Know-Who." Parvati began.  
"Then it was very quiet until the middle of the year when Pansy and Blaise got together and both Luna and Ginny hadn't returned to school after Christmas break." Lavender continued.  
"So they are together!" Hermione exclaimed. "I was wondering that from what I saw in the common room."  
"How cute are they?!" Parvati squealed in delight.  
"They're so cute!" Hermione replied smiling, "Pansy looks right at home in Blaise's arms."  
"She does, doesn't she!" Lavender giggled. Hermione only nodded. "After that news we didn't have any more until the battle was on us."  
"Was there anything after the Battle?" Hermione asked.  
"Other than you and Ron there was nothing. Obviously Ginny and Harry got together again but that's it." Lavender finished.  
"Wow! That's a pretty quiet year at Hogwarts." Hermione exclaimed.  
"Yeah, I think we were more worried about the Carrows and You-Know-Who to be involved in relationships that year. But now there's three more years that will be filled with gossip and drama!" Parvati said happily.  
"I know! I'm so excited!" Lavender giggled.  
"Do you want to go back to the common room to see who else has arrived?" Hermione suggested.  
"Yeah sure, let's go." The other two girls said standing up. The three of them walked out to find Padma Patil, Hannah Abbott, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan had arrived.

As 7:30 arrived all 20 eighth year students went down to the Great Hall. It was here that the rest of the school first saw the eighth years. As Hermione walked through the doors by herself the entire school went silent and all eyes, even those of the eighth years, turned to look at her. Suddenly Hermione felt very self-conscious. What if she had something on her face or her skirt was hitched up at the back. She scanned the hall for any signs or snickering or laughing. As she scanned her eyes past the Gryffindor table she made eye contact with Ginny who smiled and gave her a thumbs up. As she looked past the Slytherin table she saw Malfoy snarl then wink at her. As she turned to head towards the Gryffindor table she giggled at the interaction between the two of them.

"What was that all about?" Ginny asked, once Hermione had sat down. Hermione shrugged.  
"I guess that because I'm a member of the 'Golden Trio' of whom helped to defeat the Dark Lord people will stare at me."  
"But I'm going out with one of them. Wouldn't that mean I get a similar treatment." Ginny responded.  
"When people find out then yes, you will. But do remember Gin, not very many people know about your relationship with Harry. Am I correct in saying that you were planning on making it more public at the first Gryffindor Quidditch match?" Hermione explained.  
"Yeah, we've actually moved it forward though. He's going to come to tryouts to give me advice on…" Ginny trailed off. The redhead's mind delved deep into a daydream and she was oblivious to the world around her. Hermione smiled. Unless you were blind it was quite obvious how in love Ginny was and she couldn't help but feel happy for her friend. Ginny was lucky. She had Harry and it was inevitable that they would get married and have a happy life. For Hermione though, she didn't believe she'd ever find that. In her opinion she had too much brains and not enough beauty for boys to like her. Along with how picky she was with men she didn't see herself falling in love for many, many years. Her only relationships had been with Viktor Krum and Ron. Her relationship with a Viktor hadn't lasted long for Krum was never very loquacious. Her short relationship with Ron had been nothing but sweet. He didn't appreciate her knowledge and was always mentioning how she should change up her look because fairly dull and boring. Hermione herself cast her mind back to their last argument.

" _You know Mines," Ron had started. "You should really dress up more. Like what you did at the Yule Ball."  
_ " _Ronald, if I dressed up it would take me almost three times the amount to get ready than normal. I'm sure you'd love that." Hermione replied sarcastically.  
_ " _I would not love that! Why would you ever mention that?" Ron had followed oblivious to the sarcasm in Hermione's voice.  
_ " _I was being sarcastic." Hermione sighed._  
" _Anyway, you really should Mines. I don't really like people talking about how I could have someone better on my arm." Ron explained.  
_ " _That's what you think! That I'm not good enough for you! That all a girl is worth is her looks?" Hermione screeched._

" _Sheesh, I wasn't saying that. I was just saying that I was expecting you to be more involved after being so bland for so long. How many girls would actually enjoy living out of a tent and reading for months on end whilst running from the government and trying to defeat the dark lord?" He had argued back.  
"I'm perfectly content with myself Ron and I for one enjoyed every part of our miraculous horcrux hunting mission and am glad that neither us nor Harry came out worse from the war." Hermione responded with a cool tone._  
" _You were always going to come out of the war better off Hermione. None of your family was involved. Mine was, we nearly lost Ginny and Fred." Ron explained harshly._  
" _You don't get it do you! I wiped my parents memory of myself incase I had died, I nearly lost my two of my closest friends. And if you think that I would still be standing here if we had lost you are mad beyond your own mind." Hermione ranted._  
" _See but that's where you're wrong. You're Hermione Granger. You would easily had survived if we had lost. I wouldn't. My whole family are blood traitors, we would have been killed on the spot. You're too smart to have been killed." Ron cut her off._

" _RONALD! How many times are you going to pull the 'I'm a stupid, blood-traitor card'? I'm a muggle-born for crying out loud. A muggle-born who had escaped from Malfoy Manor, and helped in the destruction of the horcruxes of the leader of the dark side. Had we lost I would have been dead within seconds." Hermione shouted. "And if you honestly think that all I'm going to do with my life is walk around on your arm and not even consider a career then that is so, so, so wrong. I thought you knew who I was!"_  
" _I don't know what's gotten into you lately Hermione. We never used to fight like this. Maybe this was all wrong." Ron had said. "I honestly thought you would looking for a huge family just like mine. I thought you were wanting to get married quickly and settle down but maybe not."_  
" _You're finally getting the point. I don't want a large family, some would say I'm only here because it was expected. And if you didn't realise it Ronald, we always fought. Day in, day out." Hermione yelled, tears begging to stream down her face.  
_ " _I can't believe you Hermione. This isn't what I'm looking. You're not the girl I wanted you to be. This isn't going to work out. I'm sorry." Ron said glumly._  
" _So you're saying you don't think this relationship is ending up how you expected it to?" Hermione questioned. Ron nodded. "Fine then that's it. I won't put you through your so called misery anymore." She marched towards the door. "And for the record, I broke up with you." She screamed, ran out the door and apparated away to the first place that reached her mind. Tonks' place. As soon as she arrived Tonks had run out the door and took Hermione into her arms._  
" _Ron isn't it. Remus told me about some of the things he had been saying." She'd asked.  
_ " _Yes." Hermione had whimpered. "He didn't want me anymore so I left."  
_ " _It's okay. We're here for you." Tonks had whispered soothingly leading Hermione inside. "Granger, Granger."_

Suddenly Hermione's eyes popped open.  
"Granger?" she heard a husky voice quietly murmur from behind her.  
"Are you okay? You missed your first class."  
"I'm okay, I just dozed off for a second. Wait, I missed class." She gasped rapidly turning around. Her breath caught. "Oh my god, Malfoy. You scared me."  
"Oh, sorry. Well you missed Transfiguration but McGonagall was just running through what would happen this year."  
"Oh no! That's really important information. I was going to ask if we could take our N.E.W.T'S this year."  
"It's okay Granger. I asked McGonagall and she said that we could take them if we wanted to. Most did. She also said that if anybody wanted to come and talk to her personally about the years or talk about the war that her door would always be open." Malfoy said.  
"Thank-you for passing that information on Malfoy." Hermione said standing up. "I'd better go to my next class. Do you know what we have, I didn't get a timetable."  
"Yep, arithmancy." Malfoy responded. "Thank-you. I'll see you there. I have to run back up to the common room really quickly."  
"Alright. See you there Granger." Malfoy responded as Hermione quickly dashed away.


	3. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Harry Potter.

 **AUTHORS NOTE:** You may have noticed that if Hermione, or anyone else for that matter, has any flashbacks they'll be in italics. Also, I'm sorry if I'm writing Draco too much out of character. I'd love to hear feedback about chapter size. This one is a bit shorter than the first chapter and I wasn't sure whether I should have finished where I did or write a little bit more so some feedback would be lovely. Anyway, onwards with the story.

 **CHAPTER TWO:**

Hermione raced up the grand staircase, with only minutes before her arithmancy class began. As she reached the door she raised her hands in front of her as to push the door open, before hurrying in only to trip and fall on her face.  
"Bugger, I forgot that step was there." She murmured to herself.  
"Nice of you to join us Ms. Granger, 10 points from Gryffindor for tardiness." Professor Vector announced, looking up from his textbook. He examined the situation and raised his eyes to the closest seat, "Mr. Malfoy, please help Ms. Granger with her belongings."  
"Yes Professor," Hermione heard Draco say as he knelt next to Hermione.  
"Never was a cheerful fella was he." Hermione heard in between her frantic gasps for breath. Sitting up, the room started spinning and her head pounded. Hermione closed her eyes, taking deep breaths in an attempt to regain some composure.

"Expecting me to pick it all up are we princess?" Draco whispered in her ear, his tone agitated as he picked up her books  
"No, no, sorry. I just needed to catch my breath." Hermione blurted out, opening her eyes to watch Draco for a brief moment. Shaking her head she put her books back in her tote bag then took the remaining ones from Draco's arms.  
"Thanks." Hermione mumbling, standing up and searching for a spare seat. As her eyes darted across the room she noticed the only place was next to Malfoy. Sighing, she took her seat beside Draco and rummaged through the books in her bag, trying to find her arithmancy books. Once she located her textbook she pulled it out and placed it on the desk in front of her, a quill, ink and notebook to follow  
"What the hell is that Granger?" Malfoy whispered. Hermione looked down at her notebook and smiled,  
"This is a notebook Malfoy. An useful muggle 'artefact' which consists of many pages that one can write on. Quite like parchment, merely bound." Hermione explained softly.  
"Muggle artefact? Please Granger, you're in the wizarding world. 'Notebooks' aren't normal, parchment is much more… practical." Malfoy tried to smirk but found his reasoning invalid.  
"Personally I find that having individual pages makes my bag quite a mess and I can never find anything." Hermione surprised herself with her playful tone. Malfoy responded with a mere nod, returning his attention to Professor Vector, of whom was again reading from the textbook. Hermione picked up her quill and immediately started note taking.

* * *

After classes had finished for the day Hermione took her bag to the common room, placing it on her floor in the corner before heading straight to Professor McGonagall's office. Inwardly she was annoyed at herself for not designing her room earlier, but needed to see her old head of house.  
"Good evening Miss Granger. Can I help you with anything?" Professor McGonagall asked as Hermione entered the study.  
"Good evening Professor, as it is you could. I was wondering what you spoke about during the first class of the day?" Hermione cut straight to the point.  
"Ah yes, I was wondering whether you'd be dropping in to speak about that. May I ask why you were absent before we begin?" McGonagall queried.  
"I fell asleep, sorry about that." Hermione replied sheepishly. She knew that she was lying but she didn't want to speak to Professor McGonagall about such personal matters, she had Tonks for that.  
"No apology needed Miss Granger, I was merely curious. During the class your fellow eighth year students brought their personal questions and concerns to me and I answered them. Did you have anything you wanted to know?"  
"Just a few, the first was whether we could or could not take our N.E.W.T's?"  
"You'll be pleased to hear that you and the others in your year do have the option to take your N.E.W.T's at the end of this year. The ministry wished for all students who were in, or should have been in, seventh year during the time of the War to take their N.E.W.T's but given we as a school can no longer class our alumni as students there wasn't any chance of getting everyone back for another year."  
"Yes, trying to pull Harry and Ron back for another three years of schooling would be quite difficult in the least. Another question of mine is quite a bit less academic and more personal but I have recently grown quite close to Tonks and as she lives in Hogsmeade to support Professor Lupin, I was wondering whether I could please visit her on the weekend?" Professor McGonagall sat and thought to herself for a while before replying  
"Yes, I was believing that the older students would have to have special privileges such as being able to leave school when wanted apart from whist classes are running. So you visiting Mrs Lupin would be something you could do. Is that all?" She responded, sighing to herself. Already she could tell that some students might use this privilege to spend more time out of school doing things that weren't advisable, but that could be addressed at a different time.  
"Thank you Professor, that's all." Hermione responded and began to exit the headmistress' office.  
"Oh and Miss Granger. One last thing, there will be another meeting tomorrow during your transfiguration class to discuss the upcoming events in your extended years, please try and make it to that class." McGonagall added quickly.  
"I'll most definitely be there Professor, thank you for your time." Hermione replied rapidly as she walked out the door. Closing the door Hermione pondered to herself what the upcoming events may be, but cast that thought away as she thought of her bare room and the homework in her bag.

* * *

The common room was divided. Hermione stood just inside the portrait door, seemingly unnoticed and for the first time took in her surroundings for the next year, if not three. Hermione was standing in a small alcove in the left corner of the room. The opposite wall was completely glass, with a proscenium arch at the top of the wall, and a window seat running the length of the window. The entire ceiling was vaulted, with a large chandelier hanging from the point, covering the room in a warm glow. On either side of the window, on the adjacent walls were hallways, each leading to the dorms. Girls were on the right, boys on the left. Halfway along the left wall was a grand fireplace, with a selection of sofas, love seats and armchairs dotted around it. Opposite on the right wall was another alcove, the walls lined with bookshelves and books, with a handful of desks in the middle. There were a few tables and chairs scattered across the room, as well as a variety of paintings and colours complimenting each other and keeping the theme of house unity.

Pansy, Blaise and Draco had taken claim on a dark love seat and sofa next to the large bay window. The Gryffindors and a few of the Hufflepuffs were seated in a circle around the fireplace, some on the floor, others on the soft seats. There were two Ravenclaws sitting in the library alcove that Hermione didn't recognise and otherwise the common room was empty. Hermione shook her head out of thinking to look for Harry and Ron in the crowd of Gryffindors, took a deep breath and walked out into the room and onwards towards the girls corridor. Unbeknownst to her, the three Slytherin's had noticed her enter and watched her examine the shared room before disappearing down the hallway.

"She looks lost." Blaise commented, his arm carelessly wrapped around Pansy's shoulders.  
"She's without her two best friends for the first time in how long?" Pansy points out. Draco's eyes were still on the hallway as he started speaking,  
"Not that long. It's more than often for at least one of them to abandon her, and in turn the other would too. Think about first year, and third, sixth too." He comments, causing his two best friends to turn to him confused.  
"Since when did you know this?" Blaise asks suspiciously.  
"It was obvious. She'd spend more time in the library, dumb and dumber tried harder in class and it was only a matter of the time before they came crawling back for her to do all their work again. Eventually she'd succumb, letting go of her morals a little and accepting their exploitation again." Draco explains, Pansy becoming more and more flabbergasted by the minute. Blaise just nods and whispers something in Pansy's ear. Draco rolled his eyes and turned to look out the window, down at the students sitting outside.

* * *

Meanwhile Hermione had found her way onto the makeshift bed in the middle of her room, catalogue of furniture and décor in her hand. Again, she looking around the room. The door enters in the right corner of the room, with a bay window on the adjacent wall. Along the wall with the first door was where her bed was situated, and when she sat on her bed leaning against the wall, on her left was a door leading to one of the many shared bathrooms. Her trunk was in the corner of the two plain walls, with her tote bag on top. Otherwise the room was bare, no dressings or desks or any sense of life. Hermione pulled out her wand after decided on the furniture she wanted and moved to the middle of the room.

Hermione cast a few spells from the book and her room transformed. The makeshift bed transformed into a queen sized bed with dark purple linen and a grey, padded headboard. She had put white bedside tables with dark grey lamps on either side of the bed, with books on one and a clock on the other. There was a large, light timber desk opposite her bed and a dark, wooden wardrobe was next to a dresser of the same colour on the last blank wall. She had two magical pinboards over her desk, one for photos and memories, and the other for organisational purposes. There was now a dark cushion on the bay window, and grey curtains that fell from above, gradually getting darker. A light grey, circular rug was in the middle of the room and Hermione's trunk was under the black ottoman at the end of her bed.

Once she was happy with her room, Hermione sat down at her desk and pulled out her homework. Not long after she started she was interrupted by a knock at the door. Confused, Hermione got up and opened it. Standing in front of the door was one of the Ravenclaw students who had been in the library portion of the common room.  
"Can I help you?" Hermione inquired politely.  
"Um, yes, actually. I'm Angelica, Hall. We share a bathroom." Angelica explained. Her blonde hair had bright pink tips and was tied in a messy, high pony tail. "I thought I should just introduce myself so you knew in case anything awkward happened as a first encounter." Hermione nodded,  
"Makes sense. Well I'm Hermione." Hermione spoke as if she wasn't anyone important to know, "And I have to say but I really like your hair." Angelica smiled brightly,  
"Thank you! I dyed it after everything calmed down." The two girls stand awkwardly in the door, "well, uh, I'll let you be. But you at least know me now." Angelica smiles and walked away. Hermione stands in the door way and watches as she leaves, before returning to her homework and finishing it easily.

* * *

The next day after breakfast Hermione walked with herself to the transfiguration classroom. Halfway there she found someone falling into line with her. Resting a hand on her wand she turned, only to realise it was Angelica.  
"Morning," Hermione says kindly.  
"Morning," Angelica chirped back, "what do you think all this is going to be about?" Hermione looked confused for a moment before remembering her conversation from the evening prior.  
"I haven't even the faintest of ideas. Did she mention anything yesterday?" Hermione found it quite natural to speak with Angelica, alike speaking to one of her sisters. Angelica merely shakes her head,  
"There's really no time like the present to find out though," the girls reach the transfiguration and walk inside, three of the students already there. Hermione smiles and nods,  
"Indeed. Although they did say that curiosity killed the cat." Angelica looked perturbed and Hermione sighed,  
"Don't worry about it. I'll see you later I assume." She walked off in the direction of an empty desk on the other side of the classroom as Angelica sat where she was, saving the seat next to her for someone.

As more students trailed in Hermione oddly found all the seats around her left to last. The Ravenclaws all sat in their house, which bled into the Hufflepuffs and around into the Gryffindors. Hermione's line was left untouched, except for a Slytherin girl at the front. Professor McGonagall walked in, followed by the new found Slytherin trio with the last Hufflepuff to dart in after them.  
"Close the door behind you please Mr. Walker." Professor McGonagall called out as Pansy and Blaise filed into the empty desk in front of Hermione. To her surprise Draco slid into the table next to Hermione,  
"You don't mind do you Granger?" Malfoy asked with his eyebrow raised.  
"Not at all Malfoy." Hermione said, still lost on the blond's civility.  
"Good." Draco grinned and turned to face the front just as McGonagall started speaking,  
"I apologise for making you miss the start of this first class eight years, but the Heads of House and myself have an important announcement to make." As if on cue Professor Lupin, Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick and Professor Slughorn all walked into the room and down the isles to stand at either side of McGonagall.

"Over the next three years, the school will be undergoing many changes, one being the program that you students take." Lupin started. Hermione was enthralled and reached into her bag to take notes. Draco noticed out of the corner of his eye and put his hand on Hermione's lower forearm, shaking his head slightly. Hermione raised her hand back out of her bag, empty, and placed it on the table, completely bewildered by Malfoy's actions but listened intently to what came next.  
"This program will last nine months, and take place over the course of two years." Flitwick squeaked out in continuation.  
"Students will be divided into groups of four," a ripple begun across the classroom as friend groups started to try and organise groups, "and split into pairs from that." Slughorn continued. McGonagall sighed and raised her hand,  
"The groups will be pre-chosen by the staff and will be decided upon partway through this year." The collective of students groaned, slumping back into their seats.  
"However, you will be away from campus," Professor Sprout added, once again sprouting interest in the students, "for three months in your ninth year you and your partner will live together away from the castle, but still in Britain."  
"However, whilst you are still technically at school your coursework will be completely slightly differently. Your lectures and lessons will be at different locations than this school. Sometimes by magic communication, other times you will be expected to find your way to whatever venue is told. You are still expected to pass all your classes throughout this time, and also live with your partner in a manageable way. This is in an attempt to help you learn and grow as people, getting used to what you will have to do and overcome once you leave the safety of this castle. I have created a detailed handout which will be in your shared common room later today." McGonagall finished, "One last thing. This year, every weekend you students, and you students only, can leave the campus to go to Hogsmeade or any other pre-arranged places. As you are all of age there seems to me no reason to keep you here if you would rather leave. If there are any questions please come and see any of us five during study times. You are dismissed to go to your classes." A few students filed out to other classes or spare periods, with Hermione and the majority of other students staying put for their transfiguration class.

For the first time ever, Hermione struggled to pay attention. Her mind was constantly on the what the students had been told. Where would she stay? Who would she be partnered with? What if she couldn't tolerate them? How will they get sufficient funds to live? Finally she resolved to read through the handout as soon as possible and go to Professor Lupin with any questions she had.

'So that was the new idea' Draco thought, 'throw us into the real world and see how we cope with all our mental issues.' He rolled his eyes and tried to remain indifferent to the idea, taking detailed notes for transfiguration. However, he couldn't stop himself being intrigued and fascinated by what was to come. He had noticed that whilst Professor Flitwick had mentioned it was a nine month program, Professor Sprout had only mentioned a third of their time. It was interesting, he could admit that much to himself, he definitely wanted to know more.

* * *

 **ORIGINAL** **AUTHORS NOTE :** I uploaded a small little explanation before this chapter and I thought I should keep the explanation in case people were still curious but a little thing that annoys me when reading is when an author puts a whole chapter as an author note in the middle of their chapter. So I'll pop it in here at the bottom.

Hi all. I realise that it's likely people who wanted to read this have given up on it. I uploaded two chapters (well one really, but that's a technicality) and then disappeared. I also had horrible formatting that made everything horrendous to try and read. I've gone through and edited all that now so hopefully that updates for you. However, I am here again. It's been an extremely rough two years, I'll be honest, and I lost sight of writing in it's entirely. But I'm okayish now and am looking into writing again. I have so many ideas for this fic still and I promise to try and keep updating as much as possible. Even if no-one is reading this, I'm writing for me. This is a little preramble I'm extremely aware. However, I am working on writing now and within the next twenty-four hours I will update this chapter and it will be a proper chapter for you rather then just me splurting rubbish. If you want to know a bit more please feel free to ask and I'll answer what I can. 😊


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